Drive them all out

Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’ But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt. Remember the great terrors the Lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear. (Deuteronomy 7:17-19)

As the small nation of Israelites was about to inherit the land God had promised to them, he gives them the instruction to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, one by one, and even destroy their places of worship. Many of these nations had much more advanced military might, strong leaders of their armies, and ruthless kings. Yet, God's instruction is clear - destroy them all, one by one, until none remain - and remember - remember the way God intervened to bring your deliverance from Egypt. As we face some of our toughest enemies it is good to 'remember'. To recall the things God has already done for us and recall the promise he gives to be with us always. It seems like God is saying there will be times when everything in front of us looks bigger than life, but when we take time to remember all he did when we faced things 'bigger than life' in our past, we might just find the courage to move forward in his powerful presence.

Just remember... Remember the moment he stopped your car from spinning out of control on an icy roadway. Remember the time when your finances seemed to be smaller than your need, but every need was met without ever missing even one payment on one bill. Remember the time your child's fever was so high and you prayed so long through the night to find them well, hungry, and ready to face the day with smiles the next morning. Remember the struggle with that one sin you indulged so often and the moment you realized it had no pull on you ever again. Remember... God isn't done yet - whatever lies ahead is not greater than what has come before. He was with you then - he is with you now - he will be with you with each new challenge you face.

Memory is a powerful thing when it is used as God intends - to recall the times he has revealed himself more powerful than our worst fears, bigger than our worst nightmares, and stronger than our toughest enemies. Maybe this is why God tells us to remember - because we want to remember the power of our enemies and not the supreme goodness and care of our great God. When we shift the focus from what we remember as fearful and intimidating toward what is gracious and good, we begin to see that God goes before us, stands united with us, and surrounds us with armies mightier than any we face that he commands us to 'drive out'. So, don't just stand there - start driving them all out! The tougher they are, the harder they will fall under God's mighty hand. Just sayin!

Recall override

Cynical people are continually worried - finding it very hard to find anything at all positive in any of life's circumstances. They are also very determined that everyone else in life is after their own interest and have ulterior motives behind everything they do. Their belief that only selfishness motivates human actions significantly limits how they interact with others. Their disbelief in or minimizing of any selfless acts or disinterested points of view usually sets them at odds with others in life. I thought a cynic was perhaps just a nay-sayer - one who just opposed things because they had a genuinely "sour" disposition! Maybe it could be they were just people who had been "burnt" so many times they no longer believed good things to be possible in life. Regardless of their frame of mind at the moment, the cynic cannot see much good in life. It truly would be miserable to face life as a cynic because they have a hard time ever seeing life from the perspective of truth!

Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it; the open-minded find it right on their doorstep! (Proverbs 14:6)

Cynics - those who think human beings are basically motivated by selfish actions - have a hard time finding wisdom. Those who cannot entertain an opposing point of view have a hard time coming to a place of learning from their experiences - therefore, they also have a hard time learning so as to gain any form of personally possessed wisdom. Solomon tells us the cynic looks high and low - they are on a quest, but it is just something they have a hard time finding! This means the cynic is not really "disinterested" totally in finding wisdom, but rather are just having a hard time wrapping their hands, heads, and hearts around it because they have a basic "bent" which causes them to not realize it is right in front of them! Know anyone who fits this type of personality type? Always suspicious of the actions of another - believing they must be doing whatever it is they are doing in order to gain something for themselves. This makes for a miserable view of life. To believe all action - both human and divine - is centered in selfish ambition almost minimizes and undoes any action of love or grace. It also makes for a life in which trust is elusive.

No wonder they struggle with finding wisdom! Wisdom has a basis in trust - you have to experience knowledge in such a manner so as to develop a trust in it. For example, if you open a package of meat, only to be encountered with an odd smell, you might not "trust" this meat is fit for your consumption. What led you to this conclusion? Perhaps it was the "smell" of rotting garbage you experienced on a hot summer day when you lifted the lid of your outside trash receptacle to throw away something. That pungent smell left an impression of something being "rotten" and not good for eating! Now, when you open the package of meat, a little off-color in appearance, the "smell" confirms the suspicion you have formed based on past experience - it is rotten and not good to eat! What happened when you lifted the trash can lid? You developed a memory of the "bad smell" and equated it with "garbage" or "discarded waste". What happened when you opened the package of spoiled meat? You "recalled" the memory of what you came to label as 'garbage'. When you threw the package of spoiled meat in the trash instead of consuming it, you were exercising wisdom (practical application of knowledge obtained at an earlier time).

The cynic has a hard time with wisdom because they stop short of applying the knowledge. Why? Perhaps it is the past experience the cynic has had with "knowledge" of some sort. If they reached out to take a pretty flower into their hand and were stung by a bee the first time they did this, they likely would not "trust" flowers to be safe and enjoyable again! We "filter" all kinds of things through our minds and form memories of them in some fashion - both good and bad; correct and incorrect. Those memories go a long way in helping us interpret new "knowledge" as it comes our way. Right or wrong - we apply what we came to believe by our past experience and interpret all of life through that perspective. The cynic is best served by learning to trust afresh. There is always the hope a cynic will learn to open their mind to a new perspective in life. Not every "memory" of life is a good one to place trust in. We need the wisdom of Christ to help us sort out the ones which actually keep us from experiencing all the good in life God has prepared for his kids. When we come to Christ with open minds, he delights in filling them with "memories" which we can trust! Just sayin!

A little spring cleaning may be in order

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...  (Proverbs 23:7) Whatcha thinking? It is a common question, but maybe the better one is, "Where you even thinking?" There are all kinds of things that "vie" for attention in our mind. The "loudest" voice is often the one heard the best. Just as much as there are things that demand our attention in our thought life, our emotions are constantly being "played" by the events of our days. Depending on what it is that is running through our thoughts at the moment, our sometimes up-and-down emotions can be manageable, or completely out of control. Therefore, learning to "manage" our minds, or our thinking, goes a significantly long way in learning to live with an emotional "balance" in our lives.

Our mind really has two "sides" to it: the totally present and evident conscious side, and the less recognizable, but ever present unconscious. The conscious side of our mind is pretty evident to us - when we are actively thinking on something, it is easy to see that our actions follow that thought pattern - we are aware of something and take some form of action based upon that awareness. The unconscious side of our mind is not as easy to see, so we often don't equate our present action with what we are unconsciously thinking (or have entertained in the past within our unconscious mind). It is often the "unconscious thought" that gets us into the greatest emotional upheaval and trouble in our lives.

What am I saying here? It is simply that there is unrecognized power in our memories - all memories beginning in some type of thought. Whatever we "store away" in the recesses of our minds has the potential to ignite our actions in either a positive or negative way, but equally as important, those 'stored away' memories can also quench the ignition of any type of action. Periodically, I need to clean out my file cabinet, the top of my desk, and the other "clutter" areas of my home, like the den closet, top of the workbench, etc. Whenever I do this, I find that I was keeping all kinds of stuff that I really did not need to keep. After all, how many of certain things like grocery bags does a person really need to keep? When the next shopping trip comes, why is the old pile of those bags still lingering? We didn't use what we had, so why are we saving even more? You get the point! Some things are better not saved!

Just as we must "un-clutter" our physical space, we must focus on the "de-cluttering" of our minds, as well. There are things that we hold onto in our thoughts that should have been discarded long ago. The first thing we should rid from our memories would be what I will call "falsehoods" - those things that we embraced as reality that really aren't. These could be things we have been taught that really have no basis of proof like the idea that sunscreen "keeps" you from getting a sunburn. This is not entirely true - it just "lessens" the burn. You still need to limit your time in the sun to avoid the burn. There are a lot of "false" beliefs that we have formed about ourselves and others that really have no foundation in reality. Yet, we hold onto them like they were true and these wrong thought-patterns influence how we see ourselves and others. Let them go!

The next thing we probably need to focus on discarding is "memory of wrongs". In simple terms, we call this forgiveness. There are past hurts that we hold onto for one reason or another - these come back to haunt us as the weirdest times. The emotional baggage of unforgiveness is tremendously weighty, so it is one of the most significant things we need to focus on when we seek to "de-clutter" our minds. The list could go on, but you are probably getting the idea that not everything we have put into our minds is worth hanging onto. Sometimes we just need a little time and space to begin that decluttering process. The investment of time in evaluating what we have "tucked away" into the recesses of our unconscious mind is really worth the investment. It is not until we discover what it is that we unconsciously accept as truth that we can counteract it with the reality of truth! Just sayin!

A memory dump is needed

Hey, does anyone else out there ever feel like your life is just unraveling a bit? There are days where my ends seem a little frayed - how about yours? Those days don't always come that frequently, but when they do, man oh man...they can leave you exhausted! Some of mine come in the form of being there when the Department of Health walks in for an unannounced inspection or complaint investigation when I am the sole occupant of the office! Then maybe there is that moment when you see deadlines fast approaching, but you have put off that project you just didn't want to get to - now it looms like a spider coming closer and closer while you have no shoes on! You know the feeling - that moment of panic and dismay - wondering how you will ever get past it! What we must always recognize is that God is still in control - even when we have lost it!

Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words! (Hebrews 1:1-2 MSG)

I put that last portion of the passage in bold font for a purpose - we need to hear and appreciate the importance of those words. There is also something I'd like us to recognize from this passage - God speaks to us through various means - he doesn't just use one tool in his box! If we cannot see something one way, he helps us see it via another venue. If we don't heed his wisdom when it comes in one form, he delivers it in a different form, but it is the same wisdom! The very nature of God is to oversee and secure everything in his creation. That includes us. In fact, we are probably the most significant part of his creation - for we were created in his image and he desires for that image to always reflect him well.

What's God been saying to you? Those words aren't meant to tickle our senses - they are meant to hold us together and give us powerful anchorage. The words of God are not aimless or without purpose - they are creative and sustaining. As such, when God speaks, we need to listen! That's not easy, though, because we sometimes don't recognize the vessels he uses to speak to us. He even uses the looming deadline, unannounced visitors, and creepy crawlers of the world to speak into our lives! The thing is that we have to be open to hearing how he speaks through these various vessels. The openness of our heart is directly linked to the openness of our ears. We can hear and not do - link between ears and heart being broken somewhere. The broken part is usually our mind!

The mind is instrumental in trust because it is the center of our memory. What the memory files away often becomes the most influencing factor when the vessel God uses begins to speak to us. We fashion some type of response - sometimes even before he finishes speaking - all because of what we have stashed away in the recess of our minds. The mind is like the conduit between the ears and the heart. If the conduit is closed off or clogged, his word isn't getting through! Sometimes we need a memory dump in order to let his word get through to the part of us that most needs to hear it - our heart! Just sayin!

Oh, I remember!

It was Douglas MacArthur who reminded us, "You are remembered for the rules you break." It isn't the list of ones we keep that come to mind when others think of us at times, but those we might have not done so good of a job with! We take that one monumental stumble down some wrong path and wouldn't you know, it becomes a thing of infamy we cannot live down! Maybe it is actually us doing the remembering, holding those "broken rules" against ourselves, not willing to let go of their memory or the hold those stumbles seem to have on us. Either way, we find ourselves dealing with continual embarrassment, coupled with the desire to just have it forgotten!

Help me understand your instructions, and I will think about your wonderful teachings. I am sad and tired. Say the word, and make me strong again. Don’t let me live a lie. Guide me with your teachings. I have chosen to be loyal to you. I respect your laws. I follow your rules closely, Lord. Don’t let me be put to shame. I do my best to follow your commands, because you are the one who gives me the desire. (Psalm 119:27-32 ERV)

Remembering, or being remembered for our failures can be kind of tiring. We just want it to "go away", if even for a little while. Why do our falls become monumental, while our day-to-day obedient steps almost blend into the woodwork? I think it is because we humans like to have things we can sensationalize because it takes the pressure off of us - if even for a little while. We need only look as far as the evening news to realize that! More and more "reality" shows come out all the time, sensationalizing everything from a bunch of strangers trying to live with each other to survive on deserted islands, to courtroom verdicts being passed down while our dirty laundry is made public to the masses. 

Being remembered for, or us being the ones to continually remind ourselves of those stumbles will get us into a place where we become weighed down (sad) and exhausted by attempting to manage through those emotions (tired). We do our best - God does the rest. Have you ever heard that one? It is from this passage! We put one foot in front of the other, even if it is to "rework" a place we have already managed to stumble into repeatedly because of our disobedience. We don't allow that place of our failure to become the place we allow to form our identity. David could have found his identity in being an adulterer, or even a murderer, but he didn't. Did those things probably "get remembered" about him, or even by him from time to time? You bet! Did he allow these things to keep him from his relationship with God, or affect the way he knew God saw him? No!

God doesn't remember us by our failures - he remembers us by his touches of grace and deep furrows of his love he has worked into the places of our lives where he most needs to "work" his work. Herein lies our greatest challenge - allowing ourselves to see God's handiwork as he sees it - but when we begin to see ourselves and others as seen through his eyes, the thing we see is how much his love moves us closer to obedience and further away from our failures! Just sayin!

I gotta remember this stuff!

Remember the words that you heard from me. Retain them as the model for healthy and sound teaching in the faith and love that are available in Jesus the Anointed. As for the precious thing entrusted to you, protect it with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. (2 Tim. 1:13-14 VOICE)

The power to remember is one of our greatest gifts. As my mother approaches her 98th year on this earth, I see how much of her ability to remember even simple things impacts her daily life. She will call me at work, or I will call her, and somewhere in the expanse of a couple of minutes, she will have forgotten something "important" she needed to tell me. We all have things we desperately want to remember to tell someone, often stopped from sharing it right at that exact moment it comes to mind simply because the timing isn't right or the person isn't immediately available. We commit the thing to memory the best we can and hope we remember everything we needed to share once the timing or availability is remedied. For a parent, some of the things they want remembered are the words they have shared with their children as they have been growing up. Those were the words we hoped would convey some purpose, a lesson of sorts, that would help that child in their life's journey. God is much the same way with us - giving us words to live by. The problem is - we sometimes don't commit them to memory!

When God speaks to us through his words contained in the Bible, these aren't empty or hollow thoughts.  They are words committed to paper because they (in their totality) teach us great lessons by which we are to make life decisions.  The principles captured within the pages of this Bible of ours are the expressions of a parent's heart!  When retained, they become a model by which we pattern our actions.  Whenever we commit to take these words in, we are in essence committing to learn at the feet of our heavenly Father. We are gaining wisdom, but we are also building relationship. The exchange of words is not a thing to be taken lightly - for they can build us up, tear us down, create a sense of urgency within us, or give us moments to just enjoy.  As kids, we don't always appreciate the words of a parent - because we want to make a way for ourselves and we sometimes think our parent's wisdom is a bit outdated or just not what we need for the moment.  We can miss some of the greatest opportunities to actually learn from their mistakes when we quickly jump to the conclusion we don't need to listen to them, though!

Retain God's word - this is probably one of the most significant things we can do to bring balance into our lives. We retain a whole lot of other knowledge without much effort, so why is it so doggone hard to retain God's word? I think retaining all the steps it takes to make our favorite meal, change the oil in our cars, or even complete the laundry without forgetting fabric softener is a challenge sometimes. Yet, these prove to be easier than getting God's word into our minds, allowing it to affect our hearts, and then having it there in reserve to help us live healthy spiritually fit lives later on!  I have learned we commit to the things we think are important - they find "space" in our minds and hearts because we think they serve a purpose of some sort.  I like to wear clean clothing, so I have learned to do the laundry - all the steps from gathering the soiled clothes, sorting them, onto the finished product of folded and pressed garments. If I want to learn to live a healthy spiritual life, I had better learn to embrace the things God asks me to commit to memory from his teachings!  Just sayin!

I forgot again!

I have a variety of methods I employ to avoid forgetting something I need at the store, or a task which must be accomplished by a certain deadline.  The problem comes when I forget the "tool" I was employing in the pursuit of whatever it was I was going after (like when you leave the grocery list sitting on the counter on your way to the grocery store).  I carry a "smart phone" - something I should consistently employ to do all this gathering of information and reminders because I am seldom separated from the thing!  Good old fashioned pen and paper sometimes get the best of me and I find I have a note here, one there, and maybe even a "sticky note" or two pinned to the far edge of my computer screen (electronic, but effective).  What am I attempting to do with all these tools?  Remember!  Why is it we have the hardest time remembering some things and at other times we just cannot put a memory out of our minds to beat the band?

Do not forget to rejoice, for hope is always just around the corner. Hold up through the hard times that are coming, and devote yourselves to prayer.  (Romans 12:12 VOICE)

To forget is kind of like we obliterate the thought from our minds - maybe not forever, but at least for the moment. Some of us call it "drawing a blank" or maybe even "having a wee brain lapse".  Most of the time, we don't purposefully choose to forget, but rather let the things we once considered so important to gradually just slip from our immediate memory. They are probably still there if we think hard enough, but it takes a little "jogging" to get the entirety of the memory to the surface again.  If the majority of our issue with remembering things that are supposed to be in the forefront of our minds comes because we don't realize they are slipping away to the recesses of our memories, then maybe it is time to ask for a watchman over our memory!  I think this is why God actually sent the Holy Spirit - to become our "spiritual memory jogger" when we let those things he declares over our lives to slip into the recesses of our minds!

I guess it comes as no surprise to you that I can remember some pretty useless stuff on occasion, while the stuff I really need to hold onto has to be secured in "memory jogging software", like my password vault on my electronic device! Maybe it is because I have to remember somewhere around 25 individual passwords for some software, or to gain access to a website!  Maybe it is that they have to be so complex I cannot possibly make it easy on myself in creating them! These are all important in the course of my work, personal finances, and everyday life - but they aren't as important as some of the stuff I don't "secure" in any type of memory "vault"!  When God gives me a nugget of truth, bringing something into a place of clarity for me in my walk with him, why is it I don't secure that nugget away in some "vault" for continual reminders when I need it?  I think it may just be I hold this false belief that I will remember it when I need it!

Thank goodness God sent the Holy Spirit to help us all remember the important stuff he teaches us!  One of the easiest things to forget is this whole concept of rejoicing - in the good times, but also when the tough struggles come.  It just plain escapes us sometimes - we don't rejoice often enough!  Why rejoice?  Because hope is just around the corner!  We rejoice, not to get hope, but to recall hope to the front of our memory once again!  At the point we said "yes" to Jesus - a new hope was placed in our hearts and minds.  In time, the worries of life caught up with us and that hope seemed to slip to the recesses of our minds.  What rejoicing does is bring that hope to the forefront again.  What does bringing hope to the forefront of our minds accomplish?  It often means we begin to recall it isn't by our own strength or ability we accomplish this "walking out" of a holy life - but the strength and accomplished work of Christ on our behalf.  It might just mean we stop trying to muster up the right attitude, or create some sense of peace with the circumstances, and just reside IN peace instead.

Rejoicing brings hope into focus once again. Hope isn't focused in our own ability, but in HIS.  Just sayin!

Clap those erasers a few times more

Back in the day, classrooms had chalkboards and students were sent outside to "clap the erasers together" to rid them of the built up chalk dust.  On occasion, the boards would be washed clean with a moist rag in order to get them back to their darker, pristine-like condition.  Today's classrooms are adorned with whiteboards and colored markers - something more easily removed with a common dry rag.  There was something kind of revealing and rewarding in the clapping of the erasers - it showed how much things "build up" and how ineffective it is to try to remove what is "built up" when we are doing it with the same efforts and tools!  It actually took ridding the eraser of the chalk dust to get the boards to their optimal clean!  

It is a great blessing when people are forgiven for the wrongs they have done, when their sins are erased. It is a great blessing when the Lord says they are not guilty, when they don’t try to hide their sins. (Psalm 32:1-2 ERV)

Erasure of the board only happened when the felt eraser was scrubbed over the thing recorded on the board.  You could wish the words away as much as you wanted to, but they wouldn't just disappear because you wished them away. You could even take a quick swipe at them with the felt eraser, but what would remain was a tell-tale image of the thing recorded there in the first place.  You could try to write over the remaining image, but somehow it just made the present image look a little less clear.  The truth of the matter is pretty plain - to really have something erased, it takes some effort on our part, a lot of "yielding" to the effort by the chalk's part, and the commitment to see the work through until it is complete.

I think we somehow think if we just wish for our sins or shortcomings to be gone, we might just someday be free of them.  How's that been going for those of us who might just think wishfully about freedom from our sin?  I imagine you are as frustrated as a cat in a window looking at a flock of birds in the front yard!  You might as well have an iron wall between you and those wishes coming true because sin's erasure requires a little more than wishful thinking. How do we reconcile what the scripture says about confessed sins and the "memory" or "image" of them remaining after confession?  I think we might just do well to consider our chalkboard illustration for a clue on this one.

As soon as we get up from our seats to make our way to the chalkboard, there is something which begins - the intent to see what is there removed.  The journey to "full erasure" begins with the first movement on our part.  As the eraser is picked up and there is a beginning to the movement of the eraser over the chalkboard, another thing begins to happen - the memory of what was there begins to blur and become less and less "acute".  It may still be there in shadowy images and "chalk dust", but it blurs considerably.  The continued focus on the eraser making contact with the board until all the reminder of the writing is removed is what makes the difference.

As with the chalkboard, our release from sin begins with our first action toward "erasure" - confession.  As long as we remain silent about our sin, we are only wishing away the influence and hold of that sin in our lives.  As soon as we bring the sin to God, he is able to begin the work of helping us erase it totally.  The erasure is both "instantaneous" and "progressive".  God forgives - just like a teacher who may say, "Step up here and correct what you did wrong - go ahead, you have another chance."  He watches carefully as we take the steps, just as a teacher would watch our move toward the board and the recognition of what needs to be erased - like when we talk through our sin with God and realize where we took the misstep.  

He helps us finish the erasure of the sin's memory by us taking all the necessary steps to change what image is written there next.  Just as the teacher would help us reorder the steps of a math problem gone awry on the board, he helps us erase the steps we take which have us going awry in our lives.  The thing which we don't realize is the value of the "clapping of the erasers" and the "clean, moist rag" wash.  We often settle for the "dust" of the sin to remain - God isn't content until all the evidence of the sin is removed - so he sends us through phases of "release" - like the clapping of the erasers and the washing of the board.  Yes, he forgives our sin and removes it from his memory, but he cares so much about us that he wants the memory of it removed from our lives, as well - something which might just require some additional effort and responsiveness on our parts.

We should never settle for chalk dust in our lives - nor should we resist the times when God tells us to take the erasers outside and clap them until the dust is removed.  All he is doing is helping us to finally be rid of the troubling evidence of sin in our lives - so we don't go about trying to spread the memory of that sin all over the cleanness of the board he has prepared for us to write the next chapter of our lives upon.  Just sayin!

Remembering....

There is so very much for which we should be grateful - most of us have no idea of the many things God actually does "behind the scenes" to keep us safe, bring us into places of blessing, and to intervene in our lives.  We just know God is there and that he is in control.  We don't "know" all the details of what that control looks like, but we trust it!  There are always moments in time when God "re-centers" my life a little so I take time to slow down and realize the many ways he protects and cares for my family.  If you have children, you "worry over" their lives even after they are gone from your home.  If you raise animals as pets or as your livelihood, you "worry over" every change in their behavior which suggests they are just not "feeling their oats".  If you care for elderly parents, you "worry over" every changing faculty and ability because you know each and every "decline" is moving them closer to the time they are less independent and on their way to the time they shall depart this earth.  We don't know the "stuff" in play behind the scenes in all of these circumstances, but we do whatever our part is to "manage" them as well as we can.  There is something to be said for just stopping once in a while to recount the many ways we "are" aware of the ways God has intervened in our lives, though.  It builds gratitude and brings us into closeness with him for a while.  This is indeed a good place to find ourselves.

My soul, praise the Lord! Every part of me, praise his holy name! My soul, praise the Lord and never forget how kind he is! (Psalm 103:1-2 ERV)

Never forget how kind he is.  This is something we have to tell ourselves from time to time simply because we have a tendency to get caught up in the hub-bub of everyday life and forget to simply "notice" the things God has been and is continuing to do all around us.  If we examine the entirety of this psalm of David, we might just find a few things we sometimes forget to thank God for in our lives, or perhaps have just taken for granted for a while.  Although this is not an exhaustive list, it does give us a few moments to just pause and think about who he is, how  much he loves us, and what a tremendous "protector" he is over us.

He forgives all our sins and heals all our sicknesses - most of us remember the times we were sick or just not feeling our oats, but we kind of take for granted that the cold passed, the cut healed and the scab fell off.  We remember that moment when we asked God to forgive all our sins and even the last time we asked, but we don't remember them all.  He has taken our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. Add to this that we sinned against him, but he didn’t give us the punishment we deserved and we will be humbled anew by the greatness of his grace and the depth of his love. 

He saves us from the grave, and he gives us love and compassion - there is no greater gift he gave to us than his life for ours.  The Lord is kind and merciful. He is patient and full of love.  Two more reasons for us to honor him with our praise and delight in his presence.  Kindness extended where no one else would dare extend it.  Mercy given when the infraction demanded otherwise.  These "grace moments" should give us cause to not only pause, but shout with joy at the depth of his sacrifice and continued protection/care over our lives.

He gives us plenty of good things.  He makes us young again, like an eagle that grows new feathers.  This is indeed a vivid picture of how God intervenes in our lives, for an eagle is nothing without the feathers which carry it majestically into the air and allow it to drift high above the earth.  We are nothing without his restorative power giving us new ability to fly high above the circumstances of life which would rob us of our "cover" and threaten to be our undoing.

The Lord does what is fair.  He brings justice to all who have been hurt by others.  We carry many a scar from the wounds of others, but God is there as the one who binds those wounds and lessens the unsightliness of those scars over time.  He is the one who will bring justice - for his kids are his delight and he will not let those who bring harm or hurt to them be left alone.  We may want revenge, but God brings justice - something we have a hard time understanding, but as long as we understand God has the issue in hand, we will be fine.

He does not always criticize.  He does not stay angry with us forever.  Thank goodness for this one for I can think of a million things for which God could criticize me!  The many times I have said I'd do something, then forgotten as quickly as I "committed" stand out in my mind!  God isn't moved to anger by our failures and our mindless drifting - he is moved to compassion and to doing what it takes to bring us back to him.  The Lord is as kind to his followers as a father is to his children. The Lord has always loved his followers, and he will continue to love them forever and ever!

He will be good to all their descendants, to those who are faithful to his agreement and who remember to obey his commands.  The Lord set his throne up in heaven, and he rules over everything.  We may not be as faithful as we'd like, but God sees every inch of faithfulness as a mile in his eyes!  We cannot be discouraged by the things which seem to be insurmountable in our lives - we must remember that God measures things in a different way than we measure them!  Just sayin!

Whatcha thinking?

Thoughts are something people may not know unless you are willing to share them, right?  Not necessarily - if you have ever had someone say something and you find yourself saying "I was just thinking that!" then you know what I mean.  It was as though that person was "inside your brain" at that moment in time and just figured out what you were saying.  Most of the time, you do keep your thoughts "inside your brain" without anyone figuring them out, though - they are only known if you desire to share them.  There are a variety of thoughts - as vast as the stars in the heavens.  Some are deeper thoughts, pertaining to tough decisions, life-critical moments, etc.  Others are kind of "fleeting" - here today and gone tomorrow.  Learning to discover your OWN thoughts can be enough of a challenge, right?  Learning the thoughts of another is astronomically harder, but given enough time and commitment toward each other, that discovery may yield tremendous insight!

Someone’s thoughts may be as deep as the ocean, but if you are smart, you will discover them. (Proverbs 20:5 CEV)

Thought implies mental activity - you may think you are just having "idle" thoughts, but trust me, no thought is without some mental activity on your part. Stimuli come in from without and mix with that which we have going on already in our brains and we have new thought.  Thought takes into account about three different types of activity:  Meditation, Contemplation, or Recollection.

Meditation is the process of having continued or extended thought on a particular matter.  It involves a certain amount of "crunching" of the input we have received, kind of like mulling things over and over again until we really get it or come to a new revelation as a result.  In meditation, we consider how some action will produce another action.  It is as thought we are looking at the intended purpose of something and seeing how it all fits together with the sum of all thoughts relating to the same subject.

Contemplation is more of the giving continued and very focused attention toward the object of your thought.  It is kind of like when you find yourself really intently focusing on how to make a budget for a huge department you might manage.  You have to over and over the details, bringing them all into alignment, making conscious choices of where to move this item or that in order to gain the balance you need to see.  There is a certain amount of "study" in contemplation - you have to discover, crunch, and come to conclusions.

Recollection is really this process we refer to as memory - the things remembered as a result of some "marker" we create in our brain which is like adding a "file" to a hard drive (better known as our brain).  When we have the process of memory, we can both retain and "revive" facts - maybe not in exact order or with the greatest of detail - but we can do it nonetheless.  In the aging process it is natural to hold old memories as pretty accurate, but many of the newer ones of today (like what you ate for breakfast) may not be as easily recollected.

Now, we marry all three of these together and we see just how complex our brains have to be to allow all three of these actions to take place at the same time!  No wonder we are drained at the end of the day!  We have been crunching, considering, fitting things together, mulling over, and calling up again and again stuff all day long!  Periods of meditation (especially when they are upon the good stuff like the Word of God) actually build us up and bring clarity into our decision making process.  Periods of contemplation help us to apply the things we have been meditating upon into real practice in our lives. When we combine these with memory or recall, you can see how memory just serves to assist us with the two processes.

To learn the thoughts of another we must take into consideration these three methods of thinking in order to understand if their thought is from meditation, contemplation, memory, or a combination of any of these three.  When someone shares with us of the things they have been meditating upon, we find out some unique things God may have been speaking deep into their heart.  If they have the opportunity to share the things they have been contemplating, we often get insight into the tough decisions they have to make or steps they are taking along the way.  When the interweave memories into the mix, we get the added bonus of learning just a little bit of what lends "history" to their character.  

It is a good thing to discover the thoughts of another - especially when they are deeper and genuine in their sharing.  It helps us grow as individuals and we often learn from another - acting as catalysts for the other to finally realize potential and move into new capacity in their lives.  So, discover on, my friends! You may just be the one blessed by the discovery!  Just sayin!

Recounting his mercy, love and grace

What we choose to remember often makes the difference when our journey gets a little bumpy along the way.  Memory is a powerful tool in either our arsenal of defense, or our battery of offense.  Memory is the process of being able to "recall" or "rethink" again.  When our memory begins to go with the advancing of age or because of some trauma to the brain, it is indeed a troubling affair for us.  Last night, mom sat musing over why she still remains on this earth - since she cannot any longer enjoy the sense of sight, has impaired hearing, and often cannot even remember the simple things like calling to make a hair appointment.  Her question:  "What did I do to 'deserve' all this in my old age?"  I just sit and listen, because I really don't know why her course has been directed as such, and I know the answer that she is nearly 96 doesn't really make all she is dealing with seem "fair" by any means. One thing I do tell her frequently is how much the past six years have mattered to me - for she has been my constant companion through these years - something I know she has enjoyed and in which I have taken much pleasure, as well.  Memories have been formed - they will be remembered long after she is gone.  The power of memory can be directed toward what we choose to "rethink" - either good or bad.  The choice of how we "rethink" a matter is what often makes the difference between the memory being "pleasant" or "painful".

I always remember that the Lord is with me.  He is here, close by my side, so nothing can defeat me.  So my heart and soul will be very happy.  Even my body will live in safety, because you will not leave me in the place of death. You will not let your faithful one rot in the grave.  You will teach me the right way to live.  Just being with you will bring complete happiness. Being at your right side will make me happy forever.  (Psalm 16:8-11 ERV)

Our psalmist finds solace in remembering who is with him as he walks through the various things he must face in this thing we call "life".  It is God he chooses to remember - his companionship, closeness, and comfort.  There is something powerful in "rethinking" his companionship, in "refreshing" our impression of his closeness, and in "regenerating" the comfort he brings by the closeness of his breath.  The process he describes is that of bringing back into the "conscious mind" the things he has "stored up" in his unconscious mind.  This is the process of remembering - this "bringing forward" what has been stored up for future reference.  It is like when I go to the shelves in my pantry and move a few cans around to find that one can of that one ingredient I need to complete the meal for the night.  It was "stored up" for that particular meal - it takes on purpose when it is taken from the recesses of the shelf and put into service for the meal at hand.  

In remembering God's constancy of companionship, we come to the conclusion we NEVER walk alone.  In recounting his closeness, we draw upon the strength of his presence being there right alongside in the midst of what may not be the "friendliest" of trials.  In returning into our thoughts his constancy of companionship and closeness of presence, we are able to find comfort in the midst of even the toughest of circumstances.  This idea of "returning into thought" is what David often referred to in the psalms he penned.  They actually are sung today in thousands of churches as a means of "returning into thought" the many blessings of his goodness, love, and grace.  This is indeed the power of memory - the ability to "return into thought" those things which we may have forgotten because of the complexity of issues invading the space of our brains at that moment.  In settling his mind long enough to "recount" the blessings of God in his life, he finds peace again and presence of purpose in the midst of the battle.

In recall, we are bringing into our present thoughts "matters" which were previously considered.  In other words, we are "mulling over" the former things which were "put in" our minds which may not have served their purpose until this very moment when they are remembered.  This is the power of allowing scripture to "get into" our minds - we may not gather all the "meat" from it the first time around, but what gets into our minds has the ability to be "recalled" when the need exists for that direction.  We often choose to "mull over" some things which only make the matter at hand worse - like the impossibilities of whatever it is we are going through at the moment.  I am a list maker - not our of necessity, but it helps me remember what it is which needs to be accomplished, and then I can go back over how much I have accomplished already.  This "going over" the accomplished tasks is often the reminder to me that what still lies ahead is "small change" considered to the things already completed!  I don't get as defeated by what still lies ahead because I can recount what has already been undertaken successfully.

The power of memory is also this concept of "figuring out" a matter at hand. In the ability to remember or recall, mull over, and come to conclusions, we enter into this place of "figuring out" what it is we are needing to know for the moment at hand.  Memory "stored up" what we needed for the moment at hand.  This is how God's mercy, love and grace so often work in our lives.  We store up bits and pieces of each of these along the way in our lives.  When we most need mercy, we "recount" the many ways mercy has been there for us in the past.  We take heart in remembering God is consistent in his character, so his mercy will never end.  We find comfort in considering again his mercy - unmerited favor shown on our behalf.  The same is true of his love and grace. They are considered time and time again - bringing new insight into our present "moments" - forming again and again new thoughts which will be placed within our memories.  In time, we will not only have the old memories of his love and grace, but these new ones, as well.  This is probably what David meant when he referred to God "teaching him the right way to live".  In the recounting of God's mercy, love and grace, we are allowing God to teach us the right way to live.

We find true life because of his mercy.  We continue in this walk through the constancy of his love.  We stand assured of making it through to the end simply because God's grace is making the way for us to finish well.  There is much power in "recall" - choose well what you think upon today, for in the moments of memory we will find the "fuel" to propel us forward!  Just sayin!

My filing cabinet

Memory is a powerful tool - learning how to use it to our advantage is probably one of the most difficult tasks we can undertake, for we remember what we'd be best to let go of and we don't remember some of the most awesome moments God provides for our growth and restoration.  If you have ever caught yourself bemoaning where you ARE, you have probably forgotten where you came FROM.  We have selective memories, at best.  Focusing too intently on one thing keeps us from seeing the things we might just need to hold a little closer to our hearts.

God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet... God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins. As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud. Men and women don’t live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, but a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here. God’s love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear him, making everything right for them and their children as they follow his Covenant ways and remember to do whatever he said.  (Psalm 103:6-18 MSG)

I think we are all a little guilty of yearning for the "good old days", aren't we? We want things to be the way they used to be - not because things were all that much better, but our memories paint the picture of those bygone times being way cooler or better than our present circumstance.  One thing I have learned to do when I am hit with a sudden bought of "good old day" yearning is to run things through my memory again, but through a different "filter".  I ask the Holy Spirit to make clear what it is I recall - not relying upon my "translation" of what I recall as the real way it was.  Even the "good old days" were riddled with some pretty heavy stuff and challenges I almost thought would break me.  I just choose to remember the good stuff and shut out the bad and I don't believe I am alone in this "memory" issue.

So, what does asking the Holy Spirit do for our "memory" which we cannot do for ourselves?  Perhaps it is best stated this way - he helps put into perspective the things we went through to get where we are.  In essence, he helps us remember things from our past which we've "worked through" which we'd probably rather not go through again.  We recall the "good stuff" - he helps us remember the "hard stuff".  I honestly believe remembering the "hard stuff" helps keep us from repeating mistakes, making unwise choices, and having to "relearn" lessons.  Another thing the Holy Spirit does by focusing our "remembrance" of events is help us define who we are - God's kids, cared for by his hand, and made right because he has watched over us through all of life's circumstances.  We might just miss that otherwise!

Probably one of the most significant ways the Holy Spirit helps us is in how he helps us "process" events.  As we go through stuff in life, he is there to help us process "through" them, keeping us from muddling through by our own efforts.  We sometimes forget this important "companion" we have on our journey - thinking we have to make it through on our own because in our mind we think we ought to be able to handle stuff.  We often formulate this belief of having to "handle stuff" we go through because it is kind of familiar to us - like we have been through something similar in the past.  If there is one thing I know for sure, the thing which seems vaguely familiar to me may look and sound a lot like something I have walked through before, but there are all different players, I am at a different point in my life, and the event is only "similar", it is not the "same".  We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us the similarities, but to also help us see the uniqueness in the circumstance.

The important thing to keep in mind is the work of the Holy Spirit in helping us with our "filing system".  You see, he is a "master filer" - he knows what will be needed again and what is okay to just "shred"!  If you are anything like me, you have a pile on the top of your desk right now of the mail from the past week.  Some is clearly junk mail and just needs to be discarded, but since it might be an offer for a credit card or the like, you probably stack them up until you have a couple to shred.  Other things in the pile are important, but really, once you read them, you don't need to save them - they will go in the shred pile, too.  A very few of the items in the pile actually need to make it to the filing cabinet - because they need to be saved for future reference. The Holy Spirit is attuned to the "right stuff" to save for "future reference". He can guide us in "shredding" the stuff which is just junk and the stuff which really doesn't matter once processed.  Then he leaves us with the things which really need to be "filed away" for future reference.

Since the work of the Holy Spirit is to both help us remember correctly and to file away what really matters, isn't it important to consult him when we might just be experiencing a little "recall" problem?  When we allow him to help us with recall, we often get a different perspective on the matter.  I went back to the home where I spent the first seven years of my life one day, but experienced extreme disappointment by what I saw.  I was disappointed because what I had "filed away" about the house made it out to be this palatial mansion, with a huge yard, and gigantic trees ready for the climbing.  When I saw the house, it was run down, no bigger than most subdivision homes of the day, and the trees had all been trimmed down to nubby miniatures.  My "memory" did not match "reality".  This is a perfect example of how we "file away" things which don't always "translate" into reality in quite the same manner!  

So, the next time we get a little too focused on wishing for the "good old days", we might just do well to ask the Holy Spirit to help us recall the "truth" about what we filed away!  He will help us see the work of God in our lives a little clearer and keep us on track.  We only need to ask.  Just sayin!

Remembering ALL the roads

Remember:  To think of again and again; to remain aware of; bringing what exists in the unconscious mind back into the conscious mind.  All of us remember things - some a little differently than others.  I remember my first "solo" bike ride - but mostly because I have scars to show for it!  I remember the birth of my two children, but not every excruciating moment!  I remember the meal we had for dinner last night - but it carries no significance to me. There are times when we remember stuff in a manner which really is a little "off" in the perspective of aligning with the actual way things "went down". We have "fabricated" our own "truth" in the memory.  If you have ever been on a mountain-top experience for a while, you likely have some pretty fond memories of those moments in time.  On the other hand, if you have also endured the dryness of the desert times, you might just have some pretty significant memories of those experiences which almost did you in.

Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.  (Deuteronomy 8: 2-5 MSG)

Every road is the opportunity for a memory.  Every desert experience is a moment in time when God directed his attention toward something in us which needed to get exposed - some good, some not so much.  The mountain top experience doesn't quite have the same impact of "exposing" our hearts as the desert does.  In the dryness and barrenness of the desert, what we really have deep in our hearts just seems to get revealed.  Amazing how a little "frustration" in a good moment can turn into outright "anger" in the desert, huh?  The desert has a way of magnifying what is really buried deep within.  Maybe this is the purpose of the desert - so our hearts get some time to reveal their true selves!

Probably the most significant part of our memories is "what" we hold onto from these experiences.  The tidbits of truth, moments of hope, revealed truths - we don't hold onto the "entirety" of the desert experience in our memory, just the memorable moments.  Some in Christianity refer to these as those "teachable" moments.  Others call them their "AHA" moments. Whatever you may call them, they are the times when something of significant revelation occurred.  A part of you was revealed - God enlightened you to not only yourself, but to his grace to change that part into what he actually envisioned for us.  These are the moments we create "memory" about because they speak to us of the growth produced even in the barrenest places of our lives.

Most don't recall the tests of obedience - yet the desert is full of them.  In the midst of the desert, God is calling for some element of obedient response from us.  We usually hold onto the "results" of the steps of obedience, but forget the actual moments of distress which brought the revelation of where our obedience was being called for.  We don't think about "how" we got from step A to step B - we just know we got there!  I think God instructed Israel to remember ALL the roads they traveled in the desert because each had a significance in their overall growth.  I think this is why I enjoy keeping a journal of those important moments - capturing in word what God is speaking deep into my heart.  It gives me a way to recall his dealings.  It also gives me a way to gauge my reactions and actions to his call for obedience in my life!

In the midst of the a test, there is a whole lot of silence.  Why?  To give you time to process your thought - to bring into you conscious mind what has been stored away in your unconscious mind.  The desert provides silence.  You don't see or hear much, but you become very conscious of what is working in your mind!  I think this is important for us to recognize because we sometimes think God deserts us in the desert, but in truth, he just gives us time to realize what we already know!  The desert just brings it to the surface a little clearer!  

If you walk in the desert long enough, you begin to realize the fruitfulness you possess already!  The desert has a way of bringing out the fruit.  You might not think this possible because you only see the barrenness, sense the quietness, and resist the "heat" of the desert experience.  In the midst of the desert, God is showing us what matters - what we can hold onto.  So, rather than resist the "dryness", maybe it is time to allow it to bring out what we already know, but maybe haven't brought into the forefront of our memory in a while!  Just sayin!

Finishing well

We begin a lot of things, don't we?  How many of these do we actually finish?  In terms of finishing, we don't do as well as we do with the beginning part!  To finish well, we need to have not only tenacity, but we need to have set out on an endeavor we find worthwhile and rewarding.  If the thing we set out to do is so overbearing and adds burden instead of delight, we get bogged down and often lay it aside because it is "too hard".  It is like when we say we will read the Bible in a year.  We find ourselves reading for the sake of reading - not really taking time to savor the truth contained within.  We plug on through the "boring" chapters, get excited about checking off the finished portions, and then look at how much still lays ahead.  The issue is not so much in the starting, it is in the finishing.  How we finish is as important as that we finish!

My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.  I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.  When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.  Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.  Guard them, for they are the key to life.  (Proverbs 4:10-15 NLT)

There are couple things I would like to consider this morning as we look at what it is we have committed to in life.  If we are to fulfill our commitments, we need to be aware of how our choices will affect what it is we choose to remember and what it is we will let go of as we journey through life.  We also need to figure out who or what it is we will allow to reign in our life.  If that isn't enough, we need to keep in mind some things will just plain need to be released - relinquished completely because they have no part in the "ending" even though we might have been holding onto them in the beginning or picked them up along the way.

All choices we make result in some form of action.  These actions produce memory - good or bad, pleasing or disagreeable, fruitful or wasteful.  Whatever choices we make impact the memories we will have of the journey.  Most of us focus on the "stuff" in the journey - not the memories we are forming along the way.  These very memories may present us with problems or provision in the future.  Job went through a lot - losing home, family, livestock, land, and the list goes on.  He was covered in some kind of disgusting skin disorder which left him sitting on a pile of poop, scraping the disgusting skin lesions with a shard of pottery.  Now, what memories do you think he may have been able to make in those moments?  He could choose to hold onto the memories of how much misery he went through, the pain of the losses, or the agony of the disease.  Yet, as we view the end of his life, we see he chose not to hold onto any of these memories.  He chose to hold onto the memories of God walking him through each of these!  Now, nothing is more powerful than our memory during times of stress and hardship.  What we choose to hold onto in the recesses of our brain may actually be the determining factor between finishing and finishing well.

If you have ever gone through stuff which was a little challenging, you probably have struggled with the tendency to want to "talk about" the stuff a lot.  In other words, you choose to focus on the issues at hand by "rehearsing" the issues over and over in the ways you choose to speak about them.  There is such power in our words - what we choose to rehearse in our words often becomes the thing we believe in our hearts!  Maybe this is why God instructs us to hide his Word in our hearts and to recall it in times of testing and trial.  When we rehearse the right stuff, we often don't get into the misery of the moment so much.  We elevate our perspective through the words we choose to speak!  All of us have "history" and sometimes we tend to be a little histrionic.  We get all wigged out by the things which have happened to us and what we have had to go through in life.  Sometimes we just need to let go of this stuff if we are to move on.  Some of our history isn't helping us finish - it is holding us back!  To move on, we have to let go!

Actions move us - just like the wind moves the leaves on the tree.  You may not "see" the wind, but you see the evidence of the action of the wind.  The same is true of some of the things which we choose to hold onto in life - we don't always see them, but we see the results in the actions which are produced.  Therefore, learning to maintain the right perspective in the midst of the "stuff" we journey through and taking control of what it is we will choose to remember is important to producing the right actions (the right movement) in our lives.  Just sayin!

Remove the blindfold

Vision - most of us think of this as the ability to see.  When it is not there, such as when we have been plunged into darkness by someone covering our eyes with a blindfold, we grope our way through life, don't we?  It is as though we have to rely upon our other senses or else we will stumble.  How well do you move in this state?  Are your movements as fluid as normal?  Not likely.  In fact, you probably take shorter steps, feeling your way to make sure your footing is solid before you even take the next one.  I think we sometimes approach our spiritual life this same way - with a "blindfold" of sorts making us "stumble along" with uncertainty and a lack of vision.

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (Psalm 29:18 NIV)

Two words come to mind when I think of vision: Perception and Discernment.  It is the combined form of actually "seeing" and "knowing".  If you have ever seen something, but then had to ponder for a while what the thing was you were beholding, you might know what it is like to possess sight without understanding.  If you can interpret the general shape of an object while blindfolded, you might be able to guess at what it is you are not seeing, but you might not know for sure.  Perception and discernment go hand-in-hand.  They are God's way of helping us not only walk, but to do so with assurance and firm foundation.

Perception is the ability of the mind to actually apprehend an idea - we call this cognition.  Discernment is the ability to put some "discriminating thought" into what it is you perceive.  In other words, you can make some "judgment" based on what you know.  Our passage today reminds us without vision a people perish.  In other words, when we don't have a clear perception of the redemptive work of Christ in our lives, we stumble around a lot.  We need to apprehend (comprehend) the redemptive work of Christ - making us new creations in him.  We give a lot of "lip-service" to this idea of being new creatures in Christ, but I wonder how many of us are really wearing our blindfolds and just stumbling along trying to perceive, but having our perception blocked by the blindfold.  

Open you eyes with a blindfold on and what do you see?  The blindfold!  At best, with the blindfold in place, we only have "internal reminders" of the things we perceive.  In other words, we stumble around the furnishings because we remember their general shape and size.  We don't actually see them, but we recall what it is we know about them in order to avoid them.  I wonder how many "hazards" in life we merely stumble around, blindfold in place, simply with the use of our "internal reminders" of them being there?  The memories we form might give us a perception of the way things "were", but the ability to discern how they "are" now is only possible when the blindfold is removed by the grace of God's work in our lives.  

The purpose of the blindfold is to impair the awareness or clear thinking of the one who is wearing it.  When we put a blindfold on a child, spin him around, and then send him toward the picture of the donkey on the wall with a little "tail" to pin on it, how does the child respond?  It soon becomes evident his awareness of his surroundings is altered by the blindfold.  He doesn't think clearly, but blindly walks forward (at least he thinks he is walking forward) and aims at whatever he comes into contact with.  The danger is the tail may get "pinned" where it doesn't belong!  Awareness or clear thinking are necessary in order to perceive.  Until you have clear thinking, the thing you "think" you perceive will be only based on what it is you have formed an internal reminder about in your memory.

Vision is our "V" List trait - the ability to have clear thinking and awareness of the redemptive work Christ is doing and has done in us.  The redemptive work began at the moment we welcomed Jesus into our lives as our Savior.  The work continues each day until we reach perfection in Christ Jesus.  Since none of us are there yet, I believe we need to continually ask him to help us remove the blindfold from our eyes so we see clearly what he desires to do in every area of our lives.  We can stumble around with past memories (internal reminders), or we can get a fresh perceptive.  The choice is ours.  I think it is time to begin to ask God to remove some of the blindfolds we might have just kept on because we were afraid of the light!  Light exposes, but once it does, the internal reminders are free to be understood exactly for what they are - past perceptions which need not influence our present reality!  Just sayin!

'Member?

Remember - I saw this word a lot on vacation, as the parking garages in Tennessee had this word printed in nice bold, block letters below the level of the garage you were on.  The prompt was to "remember" where you parked.  This was printed on each sign about every 50 yards or so, just to help you focus on where it was you left the car.  Now, in a city garage this might be important, but we observed it in several parking structures, big and large.  So, "remembering" where one parked seemed to be quite important.  The word kept ringing in my ears - maybe because my best friend kept saying, "...'member?"  We made a little joke of it, but really "remembering" is not a joke - it is serious business - especially when God is doing the remembering!

Remember what you said to me, your servant—I hang on to these words for dear life!  These words hold me up in bad times; yes, your promises rejuvenate me.  (Psalm 119:49-50 MSG)

David cries out to God to "remember" what he had said to David.  Now, we don't have any clear indication of exactly WHAT he is asking God to remember, but we know David is holding on to the words as though his life depended on it.  Maybe that is because our life does depend on us remembering what God has said and then holding on to them!  When we do the remembering it is one thing - when we ask God to remember them, it is quite another.  When David is asking God to remember, he is asking God to remain aware of him, what is going on in his life, and what is about to happen.  It is the faculty of calling to mind - remaining attentive - remembering the one who is the object of your focus.  

It is kind of like us remembering where we parked the car.  We knew the object of our focus was a red Chevy rental car, parked on level 4 of the garage, very close to the elevators.  As we read each sign along the way, we kept saying to each other, "Remember!"  As we progressed up the ramp to where we "thought" our car was, we did not realize we were going to the next level.  As we saw the number "5" with the word "Remember" underneath it, we both looked at each other and said, "Nope, not what we remembered!"  Recall is a powerful tool, isn't it?  It is a "re-collecting" of the thoughts you have accumulated on a particular subject, until you bring them all together.  The more you get them together, the better your ability it is to "remember".  First, we recalled from our memory the floor we parked on (4), then the location (near an elevator, just not near the elevator we took up!).  Recall has its limitations because it is often based on the influence of present circumstances.  As the present circumstances exert their influence upon our emotions, we can sometimes "recall" parts of what we knew to be true, but the present influence can sometimes "skew" the accuracy of how we will interpret what it is we recall.

We were on the right floor when we got off the elevator - just not within the perspective of the elevator we took when we got out of the car!  So, our circumstances skewed our interpretation of what we "remembered".  The good news is:  God doesn't get memories skewed by the circumstances!  He recalls things exactly as they are - so we can hang our hats on what it is he recalls!  David says it well, "These promises rejuvenate me."  Remembering as God remembers should do just that - rejuvenate and revive us.  If the memories we can recall just cause us anxiety and worry, they are likely being influenced by the present circumstances, pushed on by past events, and filtered through other skewed memories we have stored up.  When we recount what it is God has said - what he clearly outlines in his promises to us (his Word) - we get an accurate picture of the circumstances.  God's promises help to provide the right filter - keeping us from becoming overwhelmed when the remembering doesn't go as well as we planned.

Remember - God will never leave nor forsake you.  Remember - God's love for you is measured not in what you do for him, but in what he has already done for you in the gift of his Son's life.  Remember - God honors those who honor him.  Remember - God takes away the dead weight in our hearts and replaces it with the freedom of his love and grace.  Recall is a powerful tool - learning to take what it is we remember to God, allowing him to give us the most accurate power of recall which is based on what it is HE remembers is the most powerful tool we have for seeing as God sees.  Just sayin!

Remembering?

Remember:  Keep in mind; remain aware of; recall.  For most of us, memory is a terrific thing - as long as what is remembered brings some kind of enjoyment.  When a memory is sad, or almost frightful, it terrorizes the soul and muddles the mind with its effect.  We all have different faculties for remembering things - for some, the mind is like a steal trap - nothing gets out.  For others, it is like a sieve, with many tiny holes which allow things to just plain leak out!  Is a memory ever totally erased?  I don't think so - it is there somewhere - we just may not recall it as easily or feel the same association with the memory as we once did.  It is possible to remember the details of some things and then totally forget those of another, isn't it?  If you don't believe me, try to tell me the definition of a an isosceles trapezoid! I knew that definition backward and forward while I was actually taking and practicing geometric equations, but today?  Nope!  I can tell you it has something to do with being able to divide the object in two and both sides have equal pieces - but my definition does not do justice to the real description of this trapezoid!  Memory - it can be both good and bad; here and gone; limited and expansive; or even fragile and strong.

Remember what you said to me, your servant— I hang on to these words for dear life! These words hold me up in bad times; yes, your promises rejuvenate me. The insolent ridicule me without mercy, but I don’t budge from your revelation. I watch for your ancient landmark words, and know I’m on the right track. But when I see the wicked ignore your directions, I’m beside myself with anger. I set your instructions to music and sing them as I walk this pilgrim way. I meditate on your name all night, God, treasuring your revelation, O God. Still, I walk through a rain of derision because I live by your Word and counsel.  (Psalm 119:49-56 MSG)

There are tons of scriptures which actually ask us to remember - to recount, remain aware of, keep constantly in mind.  This morning, I'd like us to consider just a couple of things about our minds and our memories:

1. It is a blessing to have our memory functioning.  As mom ages, I watch as she sometimes struggles with remembering even the simplest things such as what you call an object she has been familiar with all her years on this earth. I frequently hear her say she is really not of much "use" with her memory failing.  It almost terrorizes her to be losing the small portion of her faculties she has lost.  For a woman of 94 years of age, she is doing marvelously well, but even the smallest portion of memory lost is a huge "deficit" to her.  Why? Probably because she equates her usefulness with her ability to recall and recount.  She can no longer cook because she cannot remember the steps she used to take in preparing those awesome dishes we kids grew up enjoying.  We should never once ever discount the blessing of memory - never take it for granted - for once it is gone, no amount of "straining" helps to bring it back!

2. The brain has much capacity - the ability to both receive and retain.  These two functions of the brain make it both a blessing and a curse!  What we allow in (receive) has the potential of being retained (kept around for a really long time).  Therefore, what we "allow in" should be what we want to "keep around".  As a child, I saw some "horror" flicks in good old black and white cinema-vision.  Those "horror" flicks involved things like some genetically mutated spiders growing to massive proportions, then spinning webs the size of a football field, and roaming through towns to find food into the wee hours of the night!  Now, my brother wasn't supposed to let me watch these, but when we were left alone, him "supervising" me, no telling what could happen! Those images terrorized me many a night!  You know, I can still recall some of the details of those movies to this day!  Why?  Simply because our mind has capacity - to retain and recall!  We need to be vigilant in "supervising" what we allow in - it affects us a long, long time!

3. You have probably heard me say that memory and heart are connected in some respect - what enters into our mind somehow affects our heart.  Why?  It is important to remember the biblical reference to "heart" is not to the beating organ in our chest.  It is a reference to the center of our emotions, buried deep within the brain.  So memory has the ability to affect the heart because they are part of the same brain!  Our "heart" is the seat of our emotions - as such, we find ourselves "setting" our hearts on certain things which are able to "feed" or "deny" certain emotions.  As we learn what "feeds" an emotion, we are actually putting it into memory.  The memory then goes to that particular "remembered" thing as the basis of producing the same emotion again in the future.  Perhaps you don't see much of an issue with this, but if the "emotion" sparked a memory which feeds some habit which is harmful to us or another, then the memory is really working against us.  Therefore, we are urged to "guard our heart" - keeping careful watch over our emotions and the memories we form!

4. Last, but definitely not least, the mind has a tremendous faculty for creating - almost creating something out of nothing at times.  We are given the ability to imagine - using our "mind's eye" to see beyond the evident or apparent.  I think this might be our mind's part in the development of faith.  We "see" what is unseen - "perceive" what seems to be imperceptible.  As such, the mind has some kind of "productive" purpose - it helps us to "develop" thought - making "sense" out of things.  When something seems to be a challenge to us - we exercise some mental faculty to "perceive" - but when something escapes our understanding, we need some "help" outside of our memory - we need the Creator himself!  Just sayin!